‘Fantastic Beasts’ Take Over St. Petersburg In Stunning Photo Manipulations By Vadim Solovyov

Like many residents of Russia’s northern capital, Vadim Solovyov, an art director at an advertising agency in St Petersburg, does the same journey day in day out: to and from work, from subway to subway, from taxi to taxi. Even on weekends, his interaction with the city is no different. Especially if it’s a working weekend, as is often the case.

So in early 2019, Vadim decided to create a fictional Petersburg on Instagram, one that would take residents by surprise every single day.

“I started a blog where I live in a parallel reality, full of strange technologies and even stranger creatures. I start discussions about imaginary problems in the city, and talk about the habits of the monsters living there,” Vadim explained the concept of his blog to Russia Beyond.

The author only realized he had found fame when local media discovered his Instagram account and began writing about him and his photo collages. The media tagged him as an artist (although he doesn’t consider himself as such) and called the inhabitants of his Instagram pictures “fantastic beasts.” Here are some of them.